Goa Illegal Mining: ED Attaches ₹1,023 Crore in Properties Across India and Singapore
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday announced the attachment of assets valued at over ₹1,023 crore in connection with an alleged illegal iron ore mining case in Goa. The provisional order was issued on June 19 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), targeting the Salgaocar Groups and associates of the AVS Group.
The attached assets include 99 immovable properties in India worth ₹459.10 crore, 31 immovable properties in Singapore valued at ₹471.32 crore, and equity shares in Indian companies amounting to ₹93.42 crore. These assets are held in the names of the Estate of Late Anil Salgaocar (through administrator Lakshmi Anil Salgaocar), Salgaocar Mining Industries, Shantilal Khushaldas & Brothers, S Kantilal & Co., Salitho Ores, Vertex Newton Projects, and Subarnarekha Port.
The money laundering investigation stems from a First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Goa Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The ED noted that the Supreme Court, in its judgments of 2014 and 2018, had ruled that all mining in Goa after November 22, 2007, until the issuance of fresh mining leases, was illegal.
The agency alleged that its probe revealed the AVS Group operated ten mining leases between 2007 and 2012, generating proceeds of crime amounting to ₹2,492.95 crore from illegal extraction, sale, and export of iron ore. The ore was allegedly exported at grossly undervalued prices to shell entities incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, which then resold the ore to China, generating additional offshore trade profits of ₹2,744.89 crore. The total proceeds of crime are estimated at ₹5,237.84 crore.
According to the ED, these funds were layered through special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in the British Virgin Islands and Singapore, used to acquire substantial movable and immovable assets abroad, and partly routed back to India as share capital.
